Read Texts Closely and Think Critically
Over the course of this semester I have been pushed to new limits when it comes to my critical thinking ability. I have learned to read texts with a critical mind. In order to share examples of how I met this course requirement, I turn to my work with the midterm research paper and ongoing blogs for the course. As I approached my midterm essay I was able to form my own ideas concerning the portrayal of education in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and make connections between education and hardships. However, I was also able to read an analyze John Bugg’s writing on the topic entitled ‘Master of their language’ Education and Exile in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. In order for me to effectively utilize this text when working on my own piece, I annotated Bugg’s work and analyzed his thoughts and viewpoints (Annotations). By doing this work I was able to deepen my understanding of by the primary text Frankenstein as well as my own writing on the topic.
After analyzing such work I also learned how to used my finding in my own writing. I was able to incorporate Bugg’s work into my own by using both direct quotes and small summaries to ensure I portrayed his work in a way that he would recognize. I also practiced this skill while working on my final paper and during my discussions in class. Over the course of the semester I was constantly referring to other works and analyzing such pieces and in order to do so I have learned to clearly and effectively portray their work in my own. I often recorded such work in my blog post for the semester (ENG 334 BLOG)
I finalize my evidence of my completion of this learning outcome. I would like to draw your attention to my final project. This essay was an acclimation of the full course. It brought together and made me exhibit all of the critical thinking skills. As we discussed in class this project was a similar to a wheel with one single center connecting multiple spokes or multiple branches of work. I feel as though I was able to do just that. Bring many different primary and secondary source together in order to create my claim. I both conducted research on different elements of my work and connected the two primary sources of Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire answer the questions: what is the purpose of children’s literature? And why do adults have such a fascination with it? In addition, I also was able to connect both my own project to two other to form a panel for the research symposium. Sinead, Kaylee, and myself were able to come together and create a panel on Alice in Wonderland. Over all I feel as though I have clearly demonstrated my abilities to critically think about and analyze text.
Conduct Research in Literary and Cultural Studies
There were multiple points during this semester where I was able to practice the act of research on different literary studies. Two primary examples would be my completion of the midterm and final essays. These two project required me to perform a number of tasks that meet the requirements of this learning standard. First, I was required to hone my knowledge and skills of working with the MLA database. For each of these project I was given the task of writing my own original work while bring together information and ideas from sources found on the MLA data base. While working with data base I was able to learn how to refine my search terms and field requirements when looks for texts and sources that pertained to my topics of education in Frankenstein and children’s literature in society. When I first began working with the MLA data base I used long and specific search terms such as “how is education portrayed in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein?” whish lead me to very few articles that would be of use to my project. However, after asking questions of my peers and professor as well as practicing using the data base I was able to efficient collect evidence to that would strength my essays. Bellow I have included examples of my searches that I conducted during my initial use of the database and after I had grasped a strong understanding of how to use such a resource.
In addition to learning how to search for articles on the MLA data base I also was able to learn and practice the act of sorting through different primary and secondary sources that were brought to be from my newly refined search terms. In order to sift through evidence and sources that were of no use to me I completed a full working annotated bibliography of 10-12 sources that had the potential to be included in my final research paper. By creating this bibliography, I was able to obtain sources and analyze their general concepts to see if they would either help forward my arguments or provide a voice for me to counter during my work. I have included an page from this working annotated bibliography and my final bibliography below.
Examples of some elements that I looked for when conducting my search of the MLA database include, when the document was published, who was is written or published by, why was it published, and what relevance was t
he content of the artifact to my research. By considering all of these things I was able to identify four external sources for my final research project that would accompany and support the primary texts that had been provided and read in class. These would become the grounds for which I was able to create my final bibliography for my final which I have included below.
Communicate Effectively in Oral and Written Modes
By taking ENG 334 I have the opportunity to truly push my communication skills both orally and in the written form. Over the duration of the course I have had the opportunity to participate in literary discussion in class, to produce my own writing that furthers and argues against topics that have been brought to my attention within the course, and articulate my ideas formally at the UNE research symposium as well as during our in-class presentations at the end of the semester. I feel as though the most prominent thing I have learned from this course is how to translate my ideas into different forms of communication. During our final presentation I demonstrated the ability to form an idea into a proposal, into an oral presentation, into a modified presentation, and finally into a formal written piece. When looking at the criteria for this learning outcome it is very clear to me that my work on my final presentation is a clear example of how I met this standard.
In order to start my project, I was able to form a question or an idea and based off of that idea I produced a proposal for my work. From this proposal I worked with a cohort to expand upon my ideas into an oral presentation for our final class meeting. I felt as though this step was not easy, but the step that seemed to come most naturally to me. For this presentation I wrote a script of what I had hoped to convey to my class about children’s literature. As I am a future teacher I was able to write this with teaching in mind. The text I wrote and read for the presentation was something the flowed quite naturally for me though I as careful to ensure to include cues for myself as I presented. For example, markers to let me know when to change my slides as I presented. I also felt as though I continued to showcase my oral presenting skills while presenting the truncated version and the research symposium. However, I did find it difficult to expand those ideas into the final paper.
To accomplish this task, I reviewed what feedback my peers had given me on my oral presentation and proposal in my final blog post of the year (ENG 334 Blog ). This allowed me to see where I had hoped to expand and where I needed to revise. By completing this blog post I produced evidence of my continuous work with peer review. I also showed evidence of self-reviewing as I took my original work and prepared a plan on how to expand upon it.
